


Ben the Backbone

by virgotrash



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Dysfunctional Family, Gen, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Klaus Hargreeves Deserves Better, Protective Ben Hargreeves, after the apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-11-29 08:31:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18220730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/virgotrash/pseuds/virgotrash
Summary: Ben has some shit to say to the Hargreeves when he returns to the living world after they travel back in time. No one fucks with Klaus anymore!!![Tumblr] Anonymous sent: Hi! I really love your writing, and I was wondering if you could if you would write a fic where Klaus manages to manifest Ben and he hugs Klaus and then yells at the others for how they treated Klaus? Just with good brother protective Ben. Only of you can though, you don't have to. Thank you!! x





	Ben the Backbone

The Commission’s raison d'être proved true to its bone as the Hargreeves swallowed themselves into a blue light emanating from Number Five’s powers, collecting pieces of the past so Five could throw them all into it. There was no stopping the destruction of a world meant to die by Vanya’s unknowing strength. By now, the earth would have been vaporized, no corner left untouched by the wrath of its intensity.

When the noise subsided, the Hargreeves got up slowly from the rubble. Klaus was the first to look up, counting his siblings one by one to ensure they all made it through. Surrounding them were streaks of morning light and primary-colored bars meant for people smaller than him.

“Is everybody okay?” he asked the crowd just now moving their limbs and sitting up.

Five was the last to awaken, which was unlike him. The others worried he put his body under too much stress taking everyone with him to an unknown time so they could have enough of it to “fix” Vanya, as he had mentioned earlier, and still somehow prevent what was meant to be.

When Five came to, Diego helped him up on his feet, Klaus dusting off the dirt and dust that accumulated on his suit when they travelled. “What time are we in?” he asked, looking at everyone as if he’d been drugged the night before.

“We’re not sure yet.” It was Luther who replied, eyes on Vanya and wide awake. His cautiousness around her was unwarranted, but understandable. She was still resting in Allison’s arms and ruminating on the damage that she’d done. She wasn’t ready to dive into anything significant yet, still holding the weight of her inevitable responsibility. Luther’s weariness was unfazed.

“We might be in the nineties,” Allison said, looking around and realized they were in a playground she recognized a few blocks from the Academy. Her hands continued to massage Vanya’s shoulder, hovering over her protectively.

“It’s exactly how I remember it.”

The Hargreeves turned to the owner of the voice, all but Klaus imbued with utter shock to hear such a distinct, familiar voice, but one which they hadn’t heard in years. It was like opening a box of memories after forgetting it existed. _Ben._

Klaus looked at Ben, who looked at everyone else. His face also sported a look of bewilderment, and then he looked at Klaus for verification, as if asking, _Did they hear me, too?_

Klaus walked up to his brother slowly, trying to look through him to see if it was possible. He didn’t want to get his hopes up but couldn’t help the excitement that was churning inside of him. He reached out his hand, inching closer to Ben’s jawline. Before he could touch him, he looked at his other siblings, asking, “Do you guys see him, too?”

The Hargreeves nodded in synchronicity, even Five wide-eyed and full of wonder. They all seemed to be holding their breath, waiting to see what Klaus would do.

He turned back to Ben, who was just as still as everyone else. If he had a heartbeat, he thought, it would be beating right out of his chest. Klaus continued his hand motion, and as he was about to touch Ben’s jaw, he felt goosebumps go down his spine.

His fingertips stopped, feeling the texture of Ben’s shaven skin. The Hargreeves gasped in unison.

Klaus clasped Ben’s jaws with both his hands, relief and joy spilling over his eyes as Ben started to panic, but in a good and powerful and ecstatic way. Klaus closed in on him, embracing him for the first time since they were 17.

“Oh my god,” Klaus rejoiced.

“I’m really here,” Ben said under his breath, still trying to piece everything together in his analytical mind. “I’m back.”

Even Vanya had risen off the ground, amazed to be seeing their brother in front of her. Somehow, this seemed to make her causing the world to vanish a mere dent in her past. If that was what had to happen to ensure Ben came back to them, alive and breathing, then maybe it would be enough to justify what she did, even as selfish as it was.

Klaus turned around, relieving Ben of the tight hug he had been given. “You guys, Ben’s here. He’s alive. He’s not just in my head anymore,” he cheered in happiness.

Immediately, the whole clan moved in to welcome him back to the living, some smiling so big that tears pooled in their eyes, but they didn’t let them drop. The excitement of the moment even put Five in high spirits.

“This must mean we’re doing the right thing—we’re in the right timeline to save the world.” Five looked at his family, at the people who’ve allowed him to experience a home after decades of time-travelling and no time to think about how it felt to be loved in years. “If Ben is alive now, that means we’re in the past where he is still alive, and now we have the full force of the Umbrella Academy to band together again and stop the apocalypse from happening.”

His speech was celebrated by more cheers. Even tough-guy Diego squeezed Ben’s shoulder tight after listening to Five talk about uniting to save the world, still confused at how all of this would turn out to resolve what they know will come, but managing to look positively at the outcome with all of his siblings by his side. He couldn’t help but have Mom on his mind, his recent memory of her a dark and painful wave of emotion he couldn’t bear to think about. He could save her through all of this, too.

Ben, accustomed to years of being alone save for Klaus being the only one who could interact with him, was overwhelmed with the show of affection towards his return. He had fantasized of this moment, of someone, _anyone_ , acknowledging him—but he worried that it wouldn’t last. He worried this may just be part of Klaus’s developing powers, that at any moment, he would turn to dust and become only visible to Klaus again.

So, he needed to take this opportunity now, before it was too late. He owed it to Klaus, to the one person who allowed him to stay in the living world, even if it meant he would be wandering it in silence.

“I’m really glad I’m here. I don’t even know how this is happening, but,” Ben started, looking into the eyes of each of his siblings, “I need to make sure things are right this time around, if we’re going to save the world.”

Ben’s eyes lowered to the ground, finding the words, then back up with resolution in his expression. “I have been with Klaus from the beginning—not that I could choose—” his eyes glazed over at Klaus “—but I know one thing’s for sure watching everyone from a close distance and not being able to interfere or help Klaus explain. His autonomy has been stripped away and none of you have noticed. You belittle him and take him for granted when he’s been through everything and more than you’ll ever experience, or want to experience, for the rest of your lives.”

His tone sounded accusatory and his siblings were taken aback by it. Vanya looked at Klaus and saw the same shock that was on their faces.

“Did you even realize that Klaus had been kidnapped for days before he came back to the Academy? No one came looking for him. No one except for that detective friend of yours,” he said, looking right at Diego and seeing his jaw clench at the mention of Eudora. “He’d been abused, and to top it all off, he’d been neglected, by all of you. Seriously. Hazel and Cha-Cha had been torturing him for hours before he was saved. They took his drugs, and you all know very well how it gets for Klaus when he’s in withdrawal. You know the kinds of things he sees and hears when he’s not self-medicating. I would’ve been just like you, thinking Klaus was just being Klaus and running off to do some despicable stuff, but have you ever thought about what it might be like for him, having these powers and not being able to find himself through it all? But I was there. I saw him endure immense pain. I saw him at his worst.”

Klaus trembled. The words Ben was saying, defending him being the first thing he wanted to express to their siblings the first chance he got; it broke his heart but filled him up with so much warmth, he didn’t know what to say. His heart pounded faster with each word.

“And did any of you realize how much he’d changed since he got back? If you took the time to notice him, to _talk_ to him and let him speak his mind without giving him shit for it, just because he’s said the wildest things before—it doesn’t make him any less human in need of validation. You didn’t give him an ounce of a chance to express what he’s been through in the past week.”

“Klaus—what’s Ben talking about?” Luther asked.

“He travelled into the past.” Five looked down, ruminating on Ben’s words. He was right, after all. He had been so consumed with the apocalypse that he didn’t bother to ask Klaus what had happened in his ten months of disappearance. He did seem more melancholic than usual, but Five didn’t think he would have the time to hear about it. Or the patience.

Diego looked somber, only now realizing Klaus’s actions and finding meaning behind it—the veteran’s bar scene, the sudden love interest, the different ways Klaus would behave. He didn’t understand it, but it made sense now, and he was disappointed in himself how much of it he didn’t piece together.

“He fought in the front lines of the Vietnam war and came back after losing a loved one, and _you—_ ” Ben pointed at Luther, his head shaking in frustration. “He needed someone to talk to and you went around looking for an outlet when Klaus needed you. I told him that if it were him in the situation you were in, looking for trouble on the streets so you could forget what Dad had put you through, you would have done everything in your power to come looking for him. But I might have been wrong.”

He huffed, so much more to say, but feeling like a detention supervisor yelling at kids who were just now learning there were consequences to their actions and inactions. “What I’m saying is, I’m not going to tolerate the dismissal of Klaus anymore. I’ve been in his shadow now. I see where we fail as a family, and we need to do better, for each and every one of us. We’re not going to save anybody if we can’t help each other face our personal demons.”

After all was said and done, it was Vanya who stepped forward, her eyes on Klaus and filled with regret. There was so much to apologize for, so many words dripping from her tongue, but she couldn’t form the right sentences, so all she said was, “I didn’t know. Klaus, I’m so sorry.”

Klaus shook his head. “I’m so glad you’re okay, Vanya.” He looked back at everyone who had unknowingly revealed the same type of chagrin on their faces that their sister had. “It’s been a hard couple of days for me, but I’m so glad I get to spend this moment with you. With everyone.” He smiled and winked at Ben.

Ben winked back. “I got you, buddy,” he mouthed.

From then on, Klaus believed it. Seeing everyone surrounding him, supporting him—it was something he’d been urging to feel that he never realized he needed before. This was the moment that all of the Hargreeves promised to put their family first above anything else.


End file.
